On Escentual this week, I’m giving you the low down on fragrances that make you feel fabulous, confident and in charge. Get yourself some LIQUID CONFIDENCE by clicking here.
Art
Pack your bags because CHANEL is taking us on holiday. They’ve booked the most luxurious mode of transport – no, not the Orient Express or Emirates First Class, it’s something much more special than that for this is an olfactory odyssey that takes one on a historical trek though the life and times of their inimitable founder: Mademoiselle Coco Chanel. There are three stops on the journey, so prepare to explore the green countryside of Normandy, dip your toes into the Atlantic coastline, and take long, endless strolls through a Mediterranean city. Don’t worry about packing any perfumes because CHANEL have got you covered with their latest collection: LES EAUX DE CHANEL.
With LES EAUX DE CHANEL, CHANEL say that it is not the destination that matters, but the journey. It is the idea of escaping – of exploring, losing oneself and finding oneself. It’s about traversing unchartered territory and experiencing new things. For the collection, CHANEL has called upon their in-house perfumer to create three contemporary eau de cologne-style fragrances (which are actually Eau de Toilette concentration) inspired by locations of historical significance to the brand. Housed within a new, travel-flask inspired bottle (which takes inspiration from vintage alcohol canisters carried in one’s waistcoat), these three ‘eaus’ mark a new chapter in the olfactory story of CHANEL. So let’s embark on an exciting journey and explore LES EAUX DE CHANEL.
OK, full disclosure time! I don’t think I have covered that many D&G fragrances on The Candy Perfume Boy in my seven years in blogging. Why? Well, being completely honest, I don’t think much of their offering cuts the mustard, and whilst I am here for celebrating the great in both the mainstream and niche arenas, D&G fragrances have seldom fallen into the good parts of either of these spheres. But, I am not one to deny a good fragrance its moment in the sun and today I shall be sharing with you a scent that is officially the very best Dolce & Gabbana fragrance I have tried to date. How’s that for a build up?
The scent in questions is Velvet Incenso from D&G’s exclusive Velvet Collection – their answer to Tom Ford’s Private Blend line and Chanel’s Les Exclusifs de Chanel collection, because let’s face it, you are nobody these days if you don’t have a separate niche line under your umbrella. Velvet Incenso is described as a fusion of the Mediterranean and the Orient that celebrates the historical ingredient of incense and transforms it “into a glittering mosaic of sizzling resins”. It sounds goooooooood.
I’m just spoiling you with these Escentual posts this week! This one is my review of Météorites Le Parfum by GUERLAIN – the scent of Météorites Pearls bottled. Click here to check out my review.
I’ve been a bit naff at putting my Escentual columns up here over the last few weeks, so here’s a quick update!
Miller Harris Forage
Miller Harris have just launched a new collection of three scents that celebrate the clash between the botanical and the urban found in London. The collection is called Forage and consists of three fragrances; Wander Through the Parks, Lost in the City and Hidden on the Roof Tops. You can read my review of ALL THREE by clicking here and heading over to the Escentual blog. Enjoy.
I may have said it before but Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle is one of the very few fragrances brands where I’d happily own a bottle of each and every scent in the collection. I have many, many favourites and see the collection as one of the most finely curated out there. As a Creative Director, Frederic Malle has a real knack for bringing out the best in the perfumers he works with, resulting in wearable fragrances that tread the line between classic and modern perfectly. In short, Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle is one of the very best perfume brands on the market and you can come at me if you think otherwise…
“At a party on Paris’ rive gauche, a woman’s fur coat is lifted from her bare shoulders, exposing her neck to the candlelight. Aware of many eyes upon her, she pauses, smiling to herself, before emerging like a conqueror from the shadows.”
Malle’s latest fragrance is intriguingly-named Music for a While. Created by perfumer Carlos Benaïm (who also penned Malle’s Eau de Magnolia – one of my absolute favourites in the collection), Music for a While feels like somewhat of a break from tradition for Malle in the sense that it is quite a fun fragrance. It’s almost as if Malle is repenting for the erotic baroque nature of their last edition, the Alber Elbaz collaboration Supersitious (another favourite – I told you I had many!) and is cleaning up their collection with something a little bit more frivolous. I tell you what – I am here for it!
On Escentual this week I guide you through some excellent holiday fragrances to help you pack just the right scent for your trip away. Click here to read.
I’m always crushing on something scented or other. My nose knows no limits. Candy Crush is where I showcase the beautifully scented things I’m crushing on right now so you can hopefully develop a crush too.
I honestly could not imagine the perfume industry without The Perfume Society. They are a fantastic resource that not only seeks to celebrate perfume and those who love it, but also to educate consumers in the often secret and confusing world of fragrance. They do a phenomenal job and have a lot to offer, from their indulgently informative magazine The Scented Letter, to their frighteningly accurate fragrance recommendation tool FR.eD, not to mention their exciting events and the regular updates on their website. Phew, it’s a lot! The Perfume Society offers so much wonderful fragrance content: fact.
Speed Sniffs are a way to bring you ‘to-the-point’ fragrance reviews that are quick and easy to digest. They are perfume reviews without the faff.
Acqua di Parma always strikes me as a really stylish brand. Their fragrances have mass appeal but also a finesse that puts them above much of what the mainstream has to offer. Their Colonia is a perfumery icon and it has seen many interpretations over its 100 year life span, most notably in the Colonia Ingredients Collection which sees the classic cologne reimagined with new signature ingredients from the likes of leather to oud and amber. With this collection, Acqua di Parma remixes the effortless refinement of Colonia and presents it in
Created exclusively for luxury retailer Harrods, the latest scent in the Ingredients Collection is COLONIA VANIGLIA, an ode to the exotic spice of Madagascan vanilla. Created by Perfumer François Demachy, COLONIA VANIGLIA is an exotic oriental that is evocative of tropical islands. Acqua di Parma refer to it as having an “olfactory roundness” which just hints at how smooth this fragrance is. Anyways, that’s enough of me waffling on, you want to know what it smells like. OK, here goes…
Recently when I reviewed ALIEN MAN, I moaned about how it did not smell like a ‘MUGLER’ and how I thought that was a very bad thing. Today I am reviewing Mystic Aromatic, the latest (and tenth) edition to Les Exceptions, an exclusive line of fragrances from MUGLER, and in this review I will say that it does not smell like a MUGLER and remark how I feel that is a good thing. I am a wave of contradictions, Dear Reader, I know. But do read on and you will soon understand why these contradictions are aptly applied.
Mystic Aromatic is described by MUGLER as presenting “an intense aromatic freshness contrasted by hot, bewitching notes”. As with the other fragrances in Les Exceptions, this one too seeks to subvert a familiar genre with an interesting olfactory twist, in this case taking the green aromatic family and injecting it with an unexpected ambery warmth. The result is yet another contradiction from MUGLER, where warm meets cold, fresh meets dense, masculine meets feminine, and green meets gold. Once again, MUGLER proves that it has the ability to surprise…
The Candy Perfume Boy 